Wednesday, July 28, 2004

Emory University scientists have for the first time used a new class of luminescent "quantum dot" nanoparticles in living animals to simultaneously target and image cancerous tumors. The quantum dots were encapsulated in a highly protective polymer coating and attached to a monoclonal antibody that guided them to prostate tumor sites in living mice, where they were visible using a simple mercury lamp. The scientists believe the ability to both target and image cells in vivo represents a significant step in the quest to eventually use nanotechnology to target, image, and treat cancer, cardiovascular plaques, and neurodegenerative disease in humans. The findings were published on-line July 18 in the journal Nature Biotechnology and will appear in the journal's August 1 print edition. More

The Commission can set the right framework for companies to compete and to prosper; it can also, unfortunately, contribute to de-industrialisation. We are faced with the situation that companies turn their backs on Europe and innovate elsewhere, although Europe could be a world leader in new technologies, such as gene technology, biotechnology and nanotechnology. More

The new Scripps-PARC Institute for Advanced Biomedical Sciences (SPIABS for short) is the fruit of the union between Xerox's PARC and the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla and promises to transform medical research and the practice of medicine. The Mercury News writes that it's making a big leap to innovation in medicine. SPIABS already announced an enthalpy array, an extremely precise nanocalorimeter. It can detect changes of millionths of a degree in temperature, using samples of only 240 nanoliters. More

This material was produced as part of a ten hour course designed to introduce the scope of nanotechnology. An introduction to nanotechnology is now online. The material for this course is now available for students, educators, and anyone wishing to know more about nanotechnology. More

Nano Additives From BYK-Chemie: First Application in the Field of PVC Floor Coverings (Inside Paint)

The products are marketed under the tradenames NANOBYK-3600 and NANOBYK-3601. They have been developed to improve scratch and wear resistance of UV-coatings that can also be applied to plastics (e.g. as a top coat for Vinyl Floorings). More

Utilizing new advance in nanotechnology and the application of metal photo-catalyst, the government-affiliated Industrial Technology Research Institute has developed more efficient ways of filtering pollutants and purifying air to maintain health living conditions both at home and at work. More

Computers must have the ability to transfer data among different components. One of the difficult problems of building a quantum computer is finding a way to transfer data stored as a property, or quantum state, of an atom, electron or photon.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge in England, the National University of Singapore and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have devised a relatively simple way to transfer data between quantum bits, or qubits. More